Obama admin is sure there’s no military solution in Iraq and everyone else is wrong

posted at 4:41 pm on August 7, 2014 by Noah Rothman

On Thursday, White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest insisted that, all evidence to the contrary, there is no military solution to the present crisis in Iraq.

“There are no military solutions to the very difficult problems that exist in Iraq now,” Earnest said. “The American people cannot solve this problem for the Iraqi people. The only solution that exists is an Iraqi political solution.”

Of course, it’s difficult to convene a reconciliation commission while fundamentalist extremists are crucifying people. To suggest otherwise is completely delusional.

This administration continues to act as though the power of positive thinking will overcome adversity. Or, at the very least, that the press will determine that the administration is not culpable for thousands of deaths and a near ethno-religious genocide in Iraq if they pretend that they can’t do anything about it.

In closing, here is an inexplicable clip of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer offering his thoughts on the current crisis in Iraq:

“The whole country of Iraq seemingly falling apart right now,” he said. “This is not the way it was supposed to be after when President Obama announced that all forces would be leaving.”

“He was hoping, obviously, that there would be some peaceful transition there,” the veteran CNN news anchor continued.

Perhaps he did not realize that “hoping” in the face of the warnings of countless informed advisors that a “peaceful transition” was unlikely is a stinging indictment of this administration.

Blitzer closed by noting that the current crisis is also not what George W. Bush envisioned when he appeared on the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared “mission impossible.”

“There are no military solutions to the very difficult problems that exist in Iraq now,” Earnest said. “The American people cannot solve this problem for the Iraqi people. The only solution that exists is an Iraqi political solution.”

Similar to when Obama made the non-military solution that led to this problem for the Iraqi people?

Unfortunately, history will repeat itself. Just as the political left in this country callously abandoned SE Asia in 1975 to murder and genocide, they are intent to do the same thing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon for similarly morally bankrupt reasons.

The military guys could tell him what to do but he has no repect for the few of them that are left. He never deals with anyone who makes him feel inferior.

crankyoldlady on August 7, 2014 at 4:54 PM

Absolutely. Obama has to be the most brilliant people in any setting. His poor fragile ego couldn’t handle anything else. There are cracks in the facade though. Let’s see if King Barry can take the pressure until ’16.

There is only one answer to IS that it will understand and that is FORCE.

Having said that, it should not be up to the United States alone to destroy IS. The entire world has an interest in not only preventing the slaughter of upwards of millions of people, but also in stopping IS before their jihadists wind up on the doorsteps of countries around the world.

I think Earnestly means that since “the world is at greater peace and tranquility” than it’s ever been before and because we left” Iraq stronger and safer” than ever before”, there is no need for bombardment of ISIL.

Besides, the President is allied with them, supplies weapons to them and generally is down with the whole thing. Eggs, omelet.

“I am very optimistic about — about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government,” said Biden.

Biden him smarterest but no more smarterest then Obama him reely smarterest.

There’s the old line about “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Of course, since many liberals don’t believe that line, it’s not surprising to see them take the same approach on a larger scale. Because appeasement worked so well leading up to World War 2.

“Mission Accomplished” is what the crew of the ship put up because their mission actually was ACCOMPLISHED.

HumpBot Salvation on August 7, 2014 at 4:53 PM

You can never, ever explain that to a Low-IQ Democrat, because they hate the military and thus are totally unaware of traditions like that.

But my Dad was in the Coast Guard and served on a variety of ships, and they always displayed such a banner when they returned from a deployment-even if the mission of that deployment was as mundane as tending buoys in the Gulf of Maine!

“There are no military solutions to the very difficult problems that exist in Iraq now,”

How is it that the nation that defeated the Germans and Japanese in WWII and faced down the Soviet Empire in the cold war now has no military solution available to stop 20K lightly armed thugs with no air force or navy. If that is the state we are truly in, who is responsible for it? If it is not the case, why are we saying it to the dismay of our allies and derision of our foes.

sometimes I use a coin flip to find out the truth from the government..
this time I want to use….. Golf Cart One..
is the Cart fully charged?
washed n waxed??
are the clubs clean?
is the caddy (RLove) ready??
is the CIC on the links…???

It could be the US, France (they’ve already offered asylum), Russia (this is right in Putin’s wheelhouse a) Putin as Saviour; b) Russia wants to increase its influence in the region), Turkey (the Kurds have already asked for help), Israel (PR win on the heels of the Gaza war and Syria & Jordan would both likely agree to let them use their airspace because IS is an existential threat to both), Iran (they’ve already sent troops into Iraq and this would be a feather in their caps), or even Egypt (we’ve even supplied them with the aircraft and they loathe IS) with or without other states like Jordan, Syria, etc.

Military solutions are just politics raised several orders of magnitude. (Paraphrasing Clausewitz)
The right way to do this that has been ignored ever since the conclusion of hostilities in WWII, is the following (pay attention all LIVerals’ and a few conservatives):
First the politicians have to decide what they want to accomplish.
This will be the toughest issue because King Putt is, was, and remains A Complete and Utter Fraud. And TOTUS ain’t gonna come to his rescue any time soon.
Back to the DECISION what do you want to do? Stop some adversary, mess up a region, make a troublesome government ‘go away’, alter some attitudes, etc. WHAT exactly?Answer the question; what do you what to do?
Once you have an ANSWER you go ask the Military what do they need to Solve-the-Problem and get to THE ANSWER.
You then ask the Military; what do you need to ‘Solve the Problem’?You give the Military what they ask for and then (here is the easy part);You wind them up and GET THE HELL OUT OF THEIR WAY … and LEAVE THEM ALONE!
Before you know it, Problem Solved.
It works EVERY TIME.
(Just ask the demolished Third Reich, and crushed remnants of Imperial Japan)

sometimes I use a coin flip to find out the truth from the government..
this time I want to use….. Golf Cart One..
is the Cart fully charged?
washed n waxed??
are the clubs clean?
is the caddy (RLove) ready??
is the CIC on the links…???

When I was a child I remember reading the story about a little boy and a bully. The little boy offered the bully his candy bar and suddenly the two were great friends. I laughed when I read it. Obama must have read it and thought “Yes, that’s how the world is supposed to work.”

Unfortunately the world DOESN’t work that way and so Obama doesn’t know what do do.

And on 9/11+1 Mecca should have been vaporized with a 100Kt nuke. Oh, there would have a hue & cry for some time from the Left about what was done. But still the fact would remain: to this day, peace would exist.

Until the Islamists experience total war as Nazi Germany & Imperial Japan has, their Jihad will never end.

“There are no military solutions to the very difficult problems that exist in Iraq now,” Earnest said. “The American people cannot solve this problem for the Iraqi people. The only solution that exists is an Iraqi political solution.”

Obvious question of the day.

If Earnest’s statement is correct then why is Obama trying to “solve” the current Israel-Palestinian war? Why not let Israel solve this problem for themselves?

Barack Obama WILL win the war in Iraq by using diplomacy. He will offer free Obamacare medical policies to all of the ISIS terrorists. All they have to do is give up their weapons and surrender to the C.I.A. Dynamic-leadership like this does not show up in the White House very often ! Thanks to our President all of our troops will soon be home and America can live in “peaceful-harmony” with the Muslim-Brotherhood !

Maxim 6: If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.

Earnest should have added “There is no military solution to the conflict in Iraq*”

*That this administration is willing to consider, primarily for political reasons, since it has never occurred to them that wars consisting of leading from behind while firing missiles from drones (at least until someone complains) and air-dropping token amounts of supplies constitutes pinprick injuries, and you never do an enemy a small injury.

War should be a rare choice, but when you do it, you should not do it by half measures.

The military guys could tell him what to do but he has no repect for the few of them that are left. He never deals with anyone who makes him feel inferior.

crankyoldlady on August 7, 2014 at 4:54 PM

“I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary. He knows exactly how smart he is. . . . He knows how perceptive he is. He knows what a good reader of people he is. And he knows that he has the ability — the extraordinary, uncanny ability — to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them and make sense out of them, and I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually. . . . So what I sensed in him was not just a restless spirit but somebody with such extraordinary talents that had to be really taxed in order for him to be happy. . . . He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.”

“You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.

I would argue that there is a military solution in Iraq, but only one, and you just need to look at Hiroshima to know what it would look like.

The only thing that will ever deal with Muslim violence in the world is absolute, unwavering, overpowering force. It is the only thing they understand.

Shump on August 7, 2014 at 5:09 PM

You’re underestimating the problem.

Think General Sherman. Julius Caesar. Genghis Khan. Salidin.

Tell our military, “This is not an enemy that observes the Geneva Conventions. Therefore, we shall not, either. You may kill all who show the least resistance. You may kill children who come up to you, because they might have bombs. They have claimed they want “martyrdom” – give them their wish.”

And then re-take Iraq. I’m not saying to implement the Coulter Plan, but it’s a good start. “We came as friends to help you, and you spit in our face. THIS TIME, we come not as friends, but as conquerors. We will not wait for you to spit in our face this time, we will just rip your face off first.”